Vietnam & Cambodia are the bank! For 2018 we're catching the blog up and heading back to Europe.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Copacabana, but not the famous one (by Juli)

From Copacabana we took a boat trip out to Isla del Sol (recommended by friends that did an overland trip from Buenos Aires to the US). Isla del Sol is in the middle of Lake Titicaca and is beautiful. We landed on the north side of the island around 11:00 am and had to get to the south side by 3:30pm to catch the boat back to Copa. We spent 30 minutes touring some inca ruins; primarily a maze and sacrifice tables. Pretty interesting but hard to explain without pictures. We then hiked for 3 hours to get to the other side of the island. The views were amazing, blue water on all sides, but the hike was tough. We were still struggling from the altitude. After the long hike we enjoyed the two hour boat ride back to Copa.

We made it back to Copa in time to get one of the last buses back to La Paz. For 15 bolivianos each we took a very full bus (not as bad as the 30 or 45) for three hours. That equates to about $2 each, or the cost all of us San Franciscans pay for a 10 minute bus ride. Of course, the trip wasn´t without problemas. At a certain point in the journey, the bus has to cross part of the lake on a barge, and all the passengers take small boats. Well, Todd was more focused on finding a saltena (empanada) and we missed the first boat. So we got on the second and waited. We didn´t realize that the boat only goes when it is full (and it was far from full). So we waited while we watched our bus cross the lake. We finally made it across the river and had to run and yell to get the bus to stop for us. The bus had our packs and we weren´t about to be left without them, but I thougt I was going to die (running at that altitude wasn´t a good idea for me). Nevertheless, we made it to La Paz and on the flight to Rurrenbaque the next day.

On our first day in Rurrenbaque, we booked our pampas tour, booked flights to Cusco, exchanged money, went swimming, found a hotel and then headed to dinner. And I proceeded to fall in an open gutter and put a decent hole in my leg just below the knee (pictures to follow later). The three drinks I had at the mosquito bar may have impacted my coordination, but we all know that I´m naturally clumsy and it was DARK. Anyways, Todd can explain more about that later. Off to bed. Adios!